| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 medium tomatoes, preferably with stems intact
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 3/4 pound luganega or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced, plus a handful of celery leaves
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- 2 cups bread cubes (from about 1/2 baguette)
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a serrated knife, slice off the top quarter of each tomato and reserve the tops. Scoop out the pulp from inside each tomato and transfer it to a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the cayenne to the food processor and process until smooth; pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, herbes de Provence, bell pepper, onion, diced celery and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the sausage browns, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage mixture and bread cubes to the food processor and pulse until chopped. Pack the tomatoes with the sausage-bread mixture so the stuffing is domed on top. Put the stuffed tomatoes in the baking dish on top of the sauce.
- Place the basil, walnuts, cheese and celery leaves in the food processor and chop. Sprinkle onto the tomatoes. Put the tomato tops, cut-side down, between the stuffed tomatoes. Bake until the stuffing is golden, about 20 minutes. Cover each tomato with a top and serve with the sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 205 |
| Total Fat | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 12 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 17 mg |
| Sodium | 386 mg |
Reviews
My husband LOVED this recipe. I did not find the sauce to be watery as mentioned in some of the other reviews. The only change that I made was to slice off the bottom of the tomato instead of the top, I found it made a more sturdy vessel.
I made per the recipe. The sauce was watery, I think next time I will let the part I scooped out drain in a colander for a bit and then boil it down to thicken. For the sausage mixture I will use hot Italian sausage to give it a bit of a kick. Overall, we liked, but will tweak a bit next time.
This is a wonderful recipe! I made it just like stated and added some dried oregano and salt and pepper to the sauce. I labeled some of the sauce over some fresh green beans and that was delicious! Next time, I may sprinkle some lemon pepper on the insides of the tomatoes before stuffing them for extra flavor. It is not that time consuming if you prepare all ingredients first and have them ready to add when they are called for in making the recipe.
This was DELICIOUS!!! I made it the way the recipe stated except for 2 things: I used jalapeños flavored olive oil to give it a slight kick and I baked it for about 5 extra minutes. The crunchy topping was great! In the future I might add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the sauce to give it a little more body. Great way to use up the garden tomatoes.
Delicious – and flexible. I used some of the tips below including adding salt and pepper to both mixtures, as well as cream cheese and mushrooms to the sausage. I didn’t have enough walnuts – so I used a combination of walnuts, pecans and pine nuts. Not a big fan of peppers, so left them out. My husband and I both loved it and will make again!
It’s my go to when I’m puzzled on what to make for dinners
Favorite recipe find of the year!
My husband and I enjoyed this dish. I only made half the recipe using 1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage. I put some of the sauce on our plates, then the tomato. I didn’t add the nuts for health reasons, and used Romano because that’s what I grate in volume. The fresh basil on top was a great touch. I thought it was simple to make and choosing what tomatoes to use was the hard part. Served with garden broccoli and corn.
This was delicious. My family gobbled them up. I decided to freeze the “sauce” and leftover tomato tops to puree and add to a soup or stew later on.
I agree with the other posters, the sauce was pretty pointless as far as eating but the tomatoes were down right delicious. I really enjoyed the crispy nutty topping. Will make again, would recommend.